Pulse

Wang Gungwu, Head, East Asia Institute, National University of Singapore


The Vision of No-Love

I see a body that I want to love,

But my heart is cramped, stone.

I hope for a love that I may keep,

But my mind dreams alone.

 

Tear those shreds,

Hide those patterns,

Wither those petals,

Torment me not my narrow bed!

Leave my mind to love its make.

 

Opiate my senses; dull them with the dead

That my visions may be brighter, prime.

Narrate the loves in all Romeo's veins

And jeer and sneer and shed a tear;

"Loving is a crime."

 

Contents


Reproduced with the kind permission of Wang Gungwu.

Postcolonial Web Singapore OV Singapore Literature Overview

Last Modified: 25 July, 2002